Dancer Sarah Binns landed her dream job when she was accepted into the magical world of Disney.

The 20-year-old from Cleckheaton grew up with the characters she is now imitating as one of the dancers in parades at Disneyland Paris.

Sarah was encouraged to take up dancing when she was six. She trained, performed and qualified to teach with the Pamela Gibson School of Dance in Scholes before taking up her dream job.

“I was going to go to university but I knew all along it was not for me. I went to school, did what I had to do, but didn’t fancy having a normal nine-to-five job. I always wanted to travel and see the world,” says Sarah.

“I’d been to Disneyland many times as a child. I’d stood and watched the parades and said to my mum, ‘I could do that’.”

From that moment, Sarah’s ambition was to participate in the Disney parades. Little did she know that years later she would achieve her dream.

Looking at the Disneyland Paris website, Sarah spotted a section for talent casting. She sent off her CV and was invited to an audition in London in September 2007.

Sarah was put on a waiting list but, three months later, she attended another audition in Leeds and was offered a contract.

She joined the cast of characters performing in the daily parades at Disneyland Paris. Sarah started out as Jessie from Toy Story, progressing to perform as a Chippendale, Winnie the Pooh and even Minnie Mouse.

Sarah says her job is varied as she steps into a different character guise every day, performing in the day and night-time Fantillusion parades.

At 5ft 3in tall, Sarah is too big to play Mickey Mouse – dancers who step into his suit all have to be 5ft. Taller dancers tend to take the part of characters such as Goofy.

The costume room is brimming with outfits worn by the hundreds of performers who participate in bringing the magic to life for the resort’s young visitors.

As well as performing in the parades, Sarah has also donned the guise of some of the Disney favourites for the character breakfasts.

After spending a year in Paris, Sarah is heading for Tokyo next month after landing leading character roles in the Disneyland theme park there.

She will swap fluffy suits for the more elegant fairytale gowns and frocks worn by storybook heroines Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.

“You have to pretend you are that character and talk to guests, but I’ve done acting and panto before,” she says.

Her contract with Tokyo Disneyland runs from March to October but Sarah hopes to stay with Disney, possibly returning to Paris where, she says, she’s made many friends.

“It’s like university, but you get paid. You are with all your friends, who are pretty much the same age as you have to be 18.”

Participating in Mickey’s Winter Wonderland at Christmas gave Sarah the opportunity to learn how to ice skate. Some 75,000 spectators saw her perform in the Christmas parades.

“It was full to capacity and all those people are staring at you. You cannot imagine that many people – even on a quiet day there are 20,000 people.”

Working eight hours a day, she says you have to be energetic, even though the performances are short.

“You have to be on top form,” she says.

You also need a good imagination to visualise yourself as the character you are portraying.

For more information about a career with Disney, look at disneylandparis.co.uk.